


Keyboards and coffee

by Killerwhale



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Office, I'm Bad At Tagging, Lawyers, M/M, Slow Build
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-23
Updated: 2016-02-17
Packaged: 2018-04-27 17:23:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 17,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5057263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Killerwhale/pseuds/Killerwhale
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren starts his new job as an IT-guy at a law firm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (So, I was sick for a couple of days, and rewatching the first two seasons of Suits (for the 5th time) and this just sort of happened, idk dude. It is what it is. I hope it’s not terrible.)  
> Another Lawyer!Levi fic, because we deeefinitely need more of those.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eren starts his new job and meets new people.

“Keep up and listen carefully newbie. I’m not going to repeat myself. The mailroom is on floor 4. Going up you’ll find the library, associates, mergers, divorces, criminal lawsuits…”

“You take criminal cases?”

“Don’t ask questions. Now, where was I? Oh, yeah, at the top you’ll find finances. The cafeteria is at the same floor as divorces. It’s small and few people use it. Your chain of command is simple. You answer to Ness, head of IT. Ness answers to me, I answer to Ackerman, who answer to Mr. Smith when he feels like it.”

“Uhm… when he feels like it?”

“What did I say about questions? Erw, I mean, Mr. Smith is a part owner and he overlooks everything that goes on in this building. He knows everything, so don’t try anything.”

“What? What would I even… Is all over this really necessary? I work in IT.”

“What did you say your name was again?” They had spent the last 10 minutes walking across the 24th floor. For a second the younger of the two felt offended that the other person didn’t remember his name. Then he realized he didn’t remember the older man’s name either. The two men now stopped in front of double glass doors, with **IT-Department** slapped onto it in bold, white letters. Inside was the familiar sight of computers and servers.

“It’s Eren Jaeger.”

“Well, Eren. This is where you work. The IT-department. And yes, it is necessary. You may not be working with this people, but they do have the power to fire your ass any time they want. Welcome to Pixis, Dok & Smith.” He flashed a smug grin and walked away before Eren could ask any questions. He couldn’t remember his name. What was it again? Auro? Oulo? Aourarara? Whatever it was, Eren had already decided he was a dick.

Eren took a deep breath and turned to the doors and entered. He had to remind himself again of how lucky he was for getting the job. Times were tough and this was a good paying job. After getting fired from his last job and considering he had no proof of education within the field of IT, getting a job within a huge law firm had been a lucky strike in a series of unfortunate events. He needed it. Note to self: thank Horse Face for helping him land the job.

The familiar sound of overworked computer fans, and heavy air greeted him inside the room. A tall guy approached him and introduced himself as Bertholt. He explained that Ness, head of IT would be there soon. In the meantime they made casual conversation. Bertholt came off as a nice, but shy guy.

Soon enough an older man entered the room and introduced himself as Dita Ness. He showed Eren around the department.

“Because of budget cuts our staff has been shrinking. Even with you we’re only 7 people working here full time at the moment, plus a couple of part-timers.” Ness explained. “Bertholt, who you already met. Over there is Reiner and Annie.” He pointed to two blondes hovering over a computer screen. The two blondes looked up at the mention of their names and gave Eren half-hearted waves before they turned their attention back to the screen. Reiner was a big guy. Muscular. Annie was the opposite. Turning his attention back to Ness, Ness showed Eren the servers and explained which held what. Eren payed closed attention and nodded along. Computers are something he had always been good at and this time he wanted to well at his job.

Shortly after his tour with Ness ended and Eren was shown to his own desk and computer, two more people showed up. They brought coffee with them.

“This is Ymir and Marco.” Ness introduced them. They both shook his hand.

“Sorry, we didn’t know how you like your coffee, so we just got you a latte.” Marco said and handed one of the paper cups to Eren. “Welcome to the department. It’s nice to finally meet you.” Cute and freckled, just like Horse Face had described him, Eren noted. Horse Face, or Jean, had gone to high school with Eren and they were still close friends. Jean had recently started dating Marco, who had helped him get the job, but this was the first time Eren had ever met Marco face to face. Grateful, Eren smiled.

“It’s nice to meet you too. Thank you so much for this.”

“You don’t have to thank me. Jean said you were good with computers and we’re understaffed.”

By lunch time Eren had a pretty good idea of what working there would be like. He’d talked more with Ymir and Marco, who gave him the ins and outs of the place. For smart people, with extensive degrees, lawyers were apparently pretty hopeless with computers. The IT’s main job was to keep the serves and all systems up and running. Second was helping whoever poor soul managed to download a virus or didn’t know how to save a file as PDF.

Ymir laughed when Eren told her about his tour and she assured him he didn’t have anything to worry about. The man, whose name was Auruo, was a decent lawyer and head of recruiting and liked to scare newcomers, no matter what department they belonged to. The people he had mentioned had the power to fire him, but rarely bothered with even learning their names, let alone care if they worked there or not. Erwin Smith was part owner along with Pixis and Dok. The company owned three buildings in three different cities and they each looked after one. Marco described Erwin Smith as a really nice and capable man. Levi Ackerman was one of the top lawyers at the firm and was according to rumors stoic and unapproachable.

One month flew by and Eren was very happy with his job. He looked forward to it in the morning and he’d stay late if needed. He quickly befriended his new colleges. They’d gone out for drink a couple of times and they each took turns to get coffee every morning. It took less than a week for Ness to trust him enough to send him out alone. That was the only part of the job he didn’t like. Helping incompetent, overpaid, arrogant lawyers with their computer troubles. Though most of them let him do his job in peace and some of them were nice, there were always a few that would talk to him in a degrading manner.

Eren had never been good at keeping his mouth shut, but so far he had been able to simply whisper his comebacks under his breath. He knew he had to keep his mouth shut. Opening it was the reason he got fired from his last job after all. What saved his sanity was talking about the lawyers behind their backs with Ymir, Reiner and Annie. While Marco didn’t like talking bad about other people, they loved nothing more but to hear and share the NSFW secrets they dug up while looking into the lawyers’ internet searches. Some of them should really learn how to use incognito. It wouldn’t stop the IT department from seeing where they had been, but at least they’d make it a little more difficult. They were making it far too easy.

“Eren.” Ness called out to him the second Eren entered the office one morning. “I need you to take a new keyboard up to Mr. Smith and connect it. KC.” Eren sighed as he put his jacket on his desk. KC. Keyboard, coffee. Spilling coffee on keyboard was a more-normal-than-it-should-be incident they encountered. When would they ever learn? Had they any idea of how many keyboards were destroyed because they couldn’t place the coffee cups at a safe distance? It was ridiculous. What had those poor keyboards ever done to deserve this kind of treatment. Not to mention how expensive they were. Apple, of course. No wonder they were understaffed. How the firm could afford to have an IT-department at all was beyond him.

He grabbed a new keyboard from the storage room and took the elevator up to the top floor. The elevator had a mirror. Eren spent his time productively attempting to tame his wild, brown hair and evening out the wrinkles on his shirt. It hadn’t taken Eren long to figure out he was now working for one of those pretentious companies that believe appearance is the key to success. He was just thankful he worked in IT where he could get away with wearing only a dress shirt and whatever jeans he pleased, instead of those stiff suits everyone around him had to wear. The only person who didn’t follow this dress code was Annie, but she was basically the blonde version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo so nobody cared that she showed up in oversized hoodies. If anyone dared to comment on it she’d just send them an ugly glare. The harsh stares and her outfit were among the reasons Annie rarely got sent out to deal with lawyers.

His hair deemed untamable, Eren got off the elevator. A secretary gave him the go-ahead to enter Mr. Smith’s office. Forgetting to knock, he found himself walking in on something that looked like an important conversation between the three people he met inside. A tall blonde was sitting behind the desk. Eren assumed it was Mr. Smith. A woman was standing, leaning over the short end of the desk and a third man, sitting down with his back turned to the door.

“Ehh, hi.” Eren hesitated in the doorway. They hadn’t noticed him opening the door, now they all turned their attention to him. Eren felt like he shrunk 10 times under their surprised looks. More than the others, the look he received from the man with the undercut. His expression was a mixture of bored and angry. To regain his composure Eren took a deep breath and swallowed. “I have a keyboard.”

“Ah, yes. Of course. Come in.” The blonde, who Eren assumed to be Mr. Smith, said and stood up from his desk, stepping away from it as Eren approached it. He could feel an angry glare follow him as he walked across the office room and as he started working. He was feeling too intimidated to even attempt small talk and began working in silence, disconnecting the broken keyboard, and smelling that coffee had indeed been spilt on it.

“You’re new.” The woman said, standing up straight. Eren looked up at her, meeting her eyes. He swore the woman could see right into his soul. Her hair was almost as much of a mess as his own, and her suit was slightly more tangled and wrinkled than he was used to seeing. She had a permanent grin plastered on her face and her whole aura felt cheerful. “I haven’t seen you before.”

“I started a month ago.” Eren explained.

“Oh, welcome to Pixis, Dok & Smith.” Mr. Smith said, a smile forming on his lips. “I’m Smith, but feel free to call me Erwin. Everybody does.” Mr. Smith, or Erwin, reached out his arm and shook hands with Eren. So Marco had been right about him.  
  
“You’re so cute, I can’t believe I haven’t seen you before!” The woman was radiant. Eren could feel himself blushing and tried to concentrate on his work again, in an attempt to hide it. He wasn’t cute. He was manly as hell, thank you very much. “Isn’t he cute, Levi?”

Eren looked from her and over at the man sitting in front of the desk. So this was Levi Ackerman. He had kept his eyes on Eren, but once their eyes met the other man looked away. Eren blushed again. Out of all the rumors he had heard about Levi Ackerman, no one had ever told Eren he was hot. Like, almost model-hot. No, Eren. Don’t go there. Not a good idea.

“That’s harassment, Hanji.” The man deadpanned. Eren let out a loud huff.

“Yes, be careful, Hanji. You don’t want to get sued.” Erwin joked with a laugh. The woman, Hanji, made a pretend gasp sound and covered her mouth with a hand. Eren frowned. He felt uncomfortable having three superiors joking at his expense and he was not in the mood for this so early in the morning.

“Oh, dear. I’ll need a lawyer. Levi?” Eren turned his full attention back to the keyboard in front of him. It was good to know they took harassment cases to seriously at the firm.

“No.”  
“But Levi, you’re the best!”

“Fuck no. I’d take the kid’s case pro bono and get your ass fired.”

“You can’t sue your own firm, Levi.”

“There.” Eren opened a document, typed in some random letters to test if the keyboard worked and closed it again. “All done.” He stepped away from the desk, taking the broken keyboard with him. “Anything else I can help with?”

“What’s your name?” Hanji asked.

“It’s Eren.”

“Thank you, Eren. That would be all.” Erwin said and sat back down in his chair. Eren nodded and made his way for the door, but before he reached it Hanji’s voice stopped him. “Wait, Eren, what’s your last name?”

“Jaeger.”

“It’s so nice to meet you Eren Jaeger. I’m Hanji Zoe, I work with finance and head of the associates.” Hanji walked up to him and grabbed his hand.

“Nice to meet you Hanji Zoe. I’m Eren Jaeger, I work in IT.” Eren tried to sound genuine and polite, but was sure confusion drowned the other adjectives out. He’d heard about Hanji Zoe from the others. She was friendly, talkative and knew everybody. Eren still hadn’t expected her to introduce herself to him like this.

“And how long have you been working with computers?” She refused to let him leave.  
“Like I said, about a month.”

“Where did you go to college?” She smiled, looking genuinely interested.

“I uhm-“ but before he could answer Mr. Smith interrupted with a laugh. “Hanji, let Eren go back to work. You can interrogate him later.”

“Ah, right. Sorry, Eren.” Hanji let go of his hand finally and took a step back. “I hope you like it here.”

Before he left he noticed Levi had his gaze firmly locked at him, but once their eyes met he looked away and back at Erwin. Eren left the room and walked back to the IT room. He sat down and quietly prayed he’d get to work there in peace for the remains of the day. He had the weekend off and was looking forward to finally spending so time with his friends again.

The day went by quietly, and same with the weekend, although, maybe not so quietly.

* * *

 

Work continued almost exactly as it had done. Keeping the servers updated, checking up on computers, installing some new software, helping helpless lawyers. Whenever he ran into Hanji she’d stop him and interrogate him about his life some more. He also learned that most of the coffee+keyboard incidents were caused by her and her spasmodic arms.

“Eren, your honorable, lifesaving, computer skills have been requested.” Ymir walked up to him. Eren was eating lunch in the cafeteria. Auruo hadn’t lied about it not being used by many. Most of the lawyers would eat elsewhere or just order food. He didn’t understand why. The food here was by no means bad, and a lot cheaper than going out would be.

“Lunch break.” Eren waved her off. “You go fix it.” He bit into his sandwich.

“You didn’t hear me. They asked for you.” Eren arched an eyebrow, chewed and swallowed his food.

“Why?”

Ymir shrugged. She snatched his sandwich out of his hands and took a bite out of it. “I don’t know, but you should go. Mr. Ackerman doesn’t like being kept waiting.”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Halloween :D  
> Wanted to get this out yesterday, but here it is. I’m not sure how I feel about it.  
> but at least it’s mostly ErenxLevi interactions, so yay to that.

Eren took the elevator up and found Mr. Ackerman’s office in a corner. The walls were made of glass so he could see in. The whole building was practically made of glass and Eren wondered how it would hold up if they were hit by a storm. He saw Mr. Ackerman sitting behind his desk, looking at his screen with the same bored slash angry expression.

“You can enter.” Petra said with a smile when Eren stopped in front of her. Petra was Mr. Ackerman’s secretary. He nodded and walked up to the door. Petra pressed the intercom to let the other man know Eren was about to enter.

The man looked up from his screen as Eren walked through the door.

“You needed my help with something?” Eren hesitated once inside. The room smelled slightly of peppermint. Mr. Ackerman pushed his chair away from the screen and Eren took is as a gesture, telling him to come forward. Eren walked slowly across the room and positioned himself next to the other man. He looked down at the screen. The only window open on the desktop was a folder with one single file in it. It was titled 2015.txt. How original, Eren thought.

“So?” Eren wasn’t sure if there was something he wasn’t getting. Mr. Ackerman had yet to utter a single word to him. A moment of awkward silence passed.

“I can’t open it.”

Have you tried double clicking it? God damn iOS users. Eren shook his head to rid himself of sarcastic comments.

“What exactly do you mean you can’t open it?”

Instead of replying with words, he double clicked the file and a wall of text popped up on the screen. Letters and numbers all randomized and tangled with each other, not making any sense. At least not to anyone who is not a computer genius with possible autistic tendencies. Eren was not one of those. He’d had his fair share of playing with coding and programming, but he was not an expert. Not even close. He’d never even gone to college for these things. What he knew was self-thought, more or less. Eren tilted his head to the side and formed a small ‘o’ with his mouth. My apologies to Mr. Ackerman. I judged you too soon.

“It’s an encrypted file?”

“Looks like it. Can you do anything with it?”

“Mind if I?” Eren held out his hand and let it hover over Mr. Ackerman’s, who’s was currently occupying the computer mouse. Mr. Ackerman retracted his hand and stood up from his chair, allowing Eren to sit down. Eren messed around a bit with the file, trying to get some information out of it. 5 minutes of silence and no progress passed. He felt the other man’s presence all too well. It made him nervous, having the unremitting feeling of someone watching you, but he didn’t necessarily dislike it.  

“Sorry, I can’t do anything with it. And you don’t have a key or anything?” Eren looked over his shoulder to find Mr. Ackerman standing at a noticeable distance with crossed arms. He just shook his head. Eren was curious. He wanted to know why the man had an encrypted file without the key to it, but didn’t dare ask. It wasn’t his business and not his problem, so instead he just shrugged and got up from the chair. “There’s not a whole lot I can do then.”

“Nothing?” He sounded disappointed.

“Sorry.”

And that was the end of it. Eren left the office moments later.

 

* * *

 

 It was Eren’s turn to get coffee the next day. He woke up earlier than Mikasa and Armin, so he quietly got up and got ready in the bathroom. He didn’t want to wake up his roommates, knowing they had college classes later. Mikasa was getting her bachelor in physical therapy, and Armin was working towards his masters in political science. That guy would rule the world some day, Eren was sure of it. Before Eren dropped out of college he had been studying psychology. He wasn’t stupid. Far from it. His father was a doctor after all and it showed on his GPA from high school. But after 1 year of college he dropped out. School just wasn’t for him. Never had been. He would’ve dropped out in high school if he could have, but forced himself through it for his parents. He then started college, thinking he could do the same there. Just push himself a little bit harder. Forcing himself to attend classes he had absolutely no interest in. Even his parents noticed he wasn’t happy, and they gave him their blessing. So he quit school and got a fulltime job instead.  

He stopped by a small coffee shop between the bus stop and the office building. It wasn’t as crowded as the shops closer to the building would be. There were only two people in front of him in line. He was tired, but the smell of coffee made him feel more awake. Sometimes just the smell is enough. The minutes kept ticking by. Eren checked his phone several times to pass time and make sure he still had enough time. The entrance door opened behind him and Eren turned his head to look at the newcomer. A familiar figure stepped in. They both froze for a second when their eyes met.  

“Good morning, Mr. Ackerman.” Eren tried to sound casual. They worked together after all. Well, sort of, anyway.

“Just Levi is fine.” Levi sighed and walked over to get behind Eren.

“Oh, right. Okay, Levi.” He tested the name. “Uhm, you can go before me, if you want. My order is sort of big, so…” Eren gestured for Levi to step ahead of him in line, but Levi simply waved him off.

“It’s alright. I have time.”

Awkward silence between the two followed and as much as Eren tried to ignore it, he couldn’t.  
“Did you manage to do something with that file?” He asked to fill the silence, as well as out of curiosity.

“No, it’s no good. I don’t think I’ll get to read it anytime soon.”

“Was it important?” Eren asked, completely ignoring the fact that Levi sounded downright uninterested in talking to him. Finally it was his turn to order.

“Sort of.” Levi answered. Eren listed his orders to the girl behind the counter and stepped to the side to wait. Levi placed his order as well and stood next to him.

“You need a Lisbeth Salander.” Eren commented and tilted his head, thinking.

“I need a what-ander?” Levi looked up at him, almost offended. Eren wanted to laugh. He only now noticed the height difference between the two. He was almost a head taller than Levi. He was the perfect height for hugging and Eren got the sudden urge to reach his hands around the shorter man and hug him. He resisted it, knowing he’d probably get his ass kicked if he did. He couldn’t help but smile at the idea.

“A Lisbeth Salander. You know, from the girl with the dragon tattoo?” Eren tried to explain, but Levi didn’t show any sign of recognition. Somehow the atmosphere felt lighter. Almost friendly. At least on Eren’s part.

“You haven’t seen it? You should. It’s good.”

“Alright. I’ll look it up.” Levi said. His order came first, but he didn’t leave. Eren had expected him to leave once he got his coffee, but Levi stood there next to him and waited patiently.

“I’m pretty sure the American version is on Netflix if you want to watch it. But if you can find the Swedish version, it’s better. It’s basically the same storyline in both, so it doesn’t really matter that much.”

“And who is Lisbeth Salander?”

“Lisbeth Salander is one of the main characters. She’s the girl with the dragon tattoo. And she’s sort of a computer genius and stuff and ohh my god…” The last three words came out as whispers. A light bulb went off in his head. He remembered comparing Annie to Lisbeth’s character earlier, because of their cold demeanor. He didn’t know much, but had heard Annie was amazing and played around as a hacker before she got a less criminal job. “Annie might be able to help you.”

Levi raised an eyebrow and looked up at Eren, confused. Eren couldn’t blame him. He had a habit of trailing off, making it difficult for some people to keep up with what he was talking about. Armin had perfected the skill of knowing what Eren talked about at all times.

“Annie. She works at the office. She might be able to help you decrypt the file.” Just as he said it, his order was placed on the counter.

They walked to the office building together. Eren kept talking about movies and Levi listened to his every word. The closer they got to work, the more Levi would talk himself. They parted when Eren got off the elevator, promising he’d send Annie up to help Levi with the file.

 

* * *

 

 That weekend Eren went out with his roommates, Mikasa and Armin. On his way home from town he had walked into a pole and was now stuck with a red mark on his left cheek. Monday morning he was abruptly woken by his phone, 30 minutes before his alarm was supposed to go off. Ness was in a state of panic when he told Eren he had to come in early. Eren barely remembered to grab his access card before he ran out the door. Only when he arrived at work did he realize he had forgotten to wear a dress shirt. He felt awkward when he walked in the doors in a simple, dark green sweater and tight jeans, being surrounded by suits, dresses and high heels.

When he entered the IT room the whole place was in panic mode. The main system had broken down and everyone was working hard to get everything back up. It took them an hour to fix it. An hour of stressful work without coffee, with annoyed lawyers breathing them down their necks. Once the system was back up, they all sat down to breathe out and silently agreed this was not going to be a great day. They were right.

Because of the break down more people needed more help than usual and they were increasingly rude towards the IT staff, blaming them for what happened.  
“Can you work any faster?”  
“Is that what you wear to work?”  
“You look like you’ve been hit by a truck.”

Even Marco looked like he’d had enough of the day by lunch and wanted nothing more but to quit and go home.

Eren’s day wasn’t getting any better and his mood was sinking by the minute. He’d been called out to help out a guy in divorces. He was big, his suit looked too tight and he sat, leaning back in his chair while Eren crawled on the floor to disconnect a few wires. He kept commenting on Eren’s messy hair and general appearance. Eren just rolled his eyes and tried to ignore the obvious stares his butt was getting. The man only got up from his chair once Eren was done in his office, and decided to follow Eren all the way back to the elevator. If he hadn’t needed the job so badly he would’ve punched the guy in the face by now. He’d been fired from a different job for doing that before, too, so he knew better.

“You should try wearing a shirt. I’m sure you’d look more put together in blue or pink. And comb your hair, we’re not running a fast food restaurant, you know. You won’t get anywhere in life dressed like that.” He crossed his arms and looked as Eren pressed the button on the elevator. Eren turned around and forced a smile on his face while discreetly clenching his fists.

“I know, sir. Sorry.” The elevator ding’d not a second too soon and Eren walked backwards into it, keeping his eyes on the big guy, he pressed for the doors to close. “And thank you for your advice.” The doors closed, finally separating them.

Once the elevator moved Eren crossed his arms and took a deep breath and mumbled to himself. “They might not be the appropriate jeans for work, but you were still checking out my ass the whole time. Wow, thank you for your constructive criticism, fuckface. I’m always happy to get fashion advice from someone who looks like they’ve been shat out of Donald Trump’s ass.”

A sudden, loud snort with laughter came from behind, making Eren jump and turn around. He turned just in time to see Levi cover his mouth and look away. Eren froze. Levi cleared his throat and look back at Eren. He was smiling.

“I-I’m sorry.” Eren stuttered. “I thought I was alone. I didn’t mean for…”

“Relax.” Levi smirked. “That fucker gives me the creeps too.”

Eren huffed, relieved. He couldn’t take his eyes off Levi. This was the first time he had ever seen him smile, but it felt like the smirk had always been there. It wasn’t new. It felt so familiar, even if it was the first time he had ever seen it. Slowly the smile faded to the usual emotionless face.

“What happened to your face?”

Eren’s hand shot up to feel his face. What happened to his face? Had he been blushing? “What?”

“It looks like you’ve been in a fight.”

Eren laughed and grinned. “Oh, that, yeah. I was out the other night and was viciously assaulted by a light pole.”  

Levi’s smile reemerged as he whispered “so stupid” under his breath, just loud enough for Eren to hear it. Eren felt his own smile grow with it.  

Only when Levi got off the elevator seconds later did Eren realize he had forgotten to press the button for his own floor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Creepy guy with a green tie, Eren swears to never drink again and beats some sense into a printer.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> heyyyy, i update slow.  
> the plan was to update every friday, but that's not going to work. I accidentally made this so it would match perfectly with my exams...  
> good news is if I procratinate too much updates will come early. possibly. whoknows.  
> next chapter is Levi pov yay

Over the next few weeks work continued at normal. Well, almost as normal. A few things in Eren’s daily life changed. First was the big guy from divorces. Now dubbed green-tie-guy, because he would always wear green ties. He called several times, asking for Eren to help him out with whatever bullshit problems he was having. Eren knew the guy was just making them up. He was having Eren either crawl on the floor or lean over the desk, and Eren knew he was checking out his ass most of the time. As much as it bothered him, he didn’t want to cause a scene or even acknowledge it was happening.

Second thing to change was Eren’s mornings. He’d run into Levi at the coffee shop and they’d walk together to the offices. The 10-15 minutes once in a while was not nearly enough in Eren’s opinion. So he started to volunteer to get coffee more often, or he’d stop by the coffee shop and get a muffin. Just so he’d have a reason to run into Levi. It went as far as he figured out at what time Levi would usually get there and he’d try to show up at the same time.

Levi didn’t seem to mind. They’d talk about movies and music. Figures they actually liked a lot of the same stuff. Mainly the action/drama genre. They’d talk about work. Eren asked about Levi’s cases and Levi would go on rants about clients and other lawyers. It didn’t take him all that long to open up. Whoever had called Levi unapproachable must not have talked to him much. Eren even confessed that he had never gone to college, but Levi didn’t seem all that surprised. And he didn’t judge or look down on the decision. He said he probably would’ve dropped out too if his parents hadn’t put so much pressure on him to finish.

* * *

  
“Is Connie working tonight?” Jean asked. He was sitting with his arm around Marco. Eren put 3 beers down at the table and shuffled into the booth, next to Armin. Mikasa put the rest of their drinks down and sat down next to Eren. The five of them had gathered at a bar downtown, where they were currently waiting for a couple more friends to show up.

“Yeah, he’s working the bar.” Eren answered. Connie was another one of Eren’s high school friends and worked as a bartender there. It was an old bar, only playing music made by old men with husky voices and it had the constant hint of cigarette smell, probably stuck to the furniture from back in the late 90’s. It wasn’t the kind of bar you went to when you wanted to dance and hook up, but the perfect place to meet up with friends and complain about adult lives. Which is why they were there and exactly what they did.

Armin was 5 minutes into a rant about the upcoming political election when Ymir showed up with Annie. They squeezed into the booth. As any couple in the honeymoon stage Jean and Marco were being very flirtatious and cheesy when talking to each other. Ymir and Eren made fun of them.

“Ignore them. They’re just jealous.” Jean whispered into his boyfriend’s ear.

“As if.” Eren stuck out his tongue. “If anything, I feel bad for Marco.” Jean flipped him off and shut Eren up by reminding him that his and Marco’s relationship was the reason he had a job.

“So, how is it anyway?” Jean asked.

Eren liked his job. He really did. But the green tie guy was a torn in his side. He explained the situation to his friends. Neither Marco nor Annie knew who he was talking about, but Ymir had worked with him before and confirmed his existence to the others.

“So, this green tie guy is sexually harassing you?” Mikasa asked for confirmation.

“I don’t know if I’d call in sexual harassment exactly, but it’s definitely creepy as fuck.” Eren clarified, they didn’t look all that convinced. His friends showed concern. Armin advised him to tell his supervisor. Mikasa offered to ‘take care’ of it for him. Jean, however, thought Eren should take care of it himself.

“Honestly, dude. A year ago you wouldn’t have hesitated to punch the guy. What happened to your balls, man? Just beat some sense into the guy.” Jean was right about one thing. A year ago Eren would’ve solved the situation differently.

“The better half of me is telling me you should go with Armin’s idea. The other half is saying you should listen to Jean.” Marco shot in. It was surprising coming from him. The guy who never did anything wrong. Eren suspected the ‘other half’ was the emotional, so-very-much-in-love side of him, that probably would’ve agreed with Jean even if he had suggested killing and eating green-tie-guy.

“I would, but I don’t want to get fired.” He muttered into his beer. He was already on his 4th one. “But it’s fine, guys. Really. You don’t have to worry.” He knew they would anyway, but he didn’t want to make them any more worried. The advice that stuck with him the most was probably Ymir’s.

“Why don’t you tell Mr. Ackerman about it?” She said with a drunken grin. Her tone was teasing. “You two look like you’ve been getting along well lately. I’m sure he would help you out.”

Eren choked on his beer and quickly dismissed it. A little too quickly his friends noticed and asked him more about it. Eren had to defend himself, telling them they usually ran into each other in the mornings and would walk to work together, but that was it. They didn’t believe him. Ymir kept teasing him about Levi for good 10 minutes.

To move the topic away from himself he suggested taking shots. They all agreed. They all took a shot to their own problems. Well, except for Marco and Jean, who both claimed their lives were pretty much perfect.

One shot for being sexually harassed at work. One shot to a world Armin was beginning to lose all faith in. One for Ymir, being hopelessly in love with a girl she’d never talked to. Annie repeated Armin’s complaint about the world going to shit. Mikasa muttered something about being forced to do group projects at school and being stuck with a hopeless group that refused to do any work.

One hour and a couple of shots later Eren, Armin and Mikasa walked home. All happily drunk and stumbling along the sidewalk. Armin hummed the melody to Seaside by The Kooks the whole way. Eren mindlessly joined him, his thoughts stuck on the earlier conversation.  
‘You two look like you’ve been getting along pretty well lately.’

* * *

  
Eren was standing in Levi’s office. It was dark. The only light coming in came from the streetlights outside and the light in the hallway. He felt warm and confident. Almost overwhelmingly so. Levi was standing with his back turned against him, staring out the window, down at the street. Eren walked up to him and positioned himself right next to him. He looked out the window too. He tried to pinpoint exactly what Levi was looking at, but there was nothing down there. No cars, no people. 

“What are you look at?”

“You.” Eren looked up to see Levi staring at him. Their eyes were locked for a long moment. They were so close.

“We’ve been getting along well lately.” Levi said with a low voice. Eren wanted to reach out and touch him. Before he could register it, that’s what he did. His hand automatically rose up and reached for Levi’s face. Levi didn’t brush him off or slap his hand away.

From 0 to 100 in seconds, their slow movements picked up speed. Levi grabbed Eren’s shirt and pulled him down to his level, kissing him. It was slow at first, like they were testing each other. Tasting. But soon it evolved to something deeper, sexier. Eren felt a comfortable warm feeling spread through his body. He didn’t question it. It felt so right. His hand fell on Levi’s neck. Levi let go of Eren’s shirt and brought both his hands down along Eren’s body, resting them on his hips.

They shuffled across the floor and soon Eren felt the desk behind him. He leaned against it. Eren tried to loosen Levi’s tie. Levi started unbuttoning Eren’s shirt, while kissing his neck. The shirt came off and Levi worked on his upper body, kissing and biting his skin. Eren let out a few moans.

Suddenly Levi stopped. He took a few steps back and looked at him. His expression changed. He looked at him with a cold, angry look. The warmth and confidence Eren had felt only moments earlier vanished and he was filled with a cold, embarrassed feeling. Suddenly he felt very naked.

“What?” He asked.

“What are you…” but Levi never got finish his sentence. Shirtless and cold, Eren fell backwards. It was if the desk he had been leaning against suddenly disappeared and he fell down on the ground, slamming his head against the hard floor.

When he opened his eyes again the room was light. He felt like he had just ran a marathon, every muscles of his body was aching, his vision blurry and his breath was heavy. He was sweating. He had to blink several times to focus his vision. Slowly, he realized he was staring at his own bedroom ceiling. He was on the floor in his own bedroom, only dressed in boxers, which felt too tight for him right then.

“Oh my god.” He whispered to himself as he sat up. A violent headache and nausea, which had been dulled down confusion at first, grew evident. He sat motionless on the floor, next to his pillow, leaning against his bed, resting his head in his hands.

Headache, sore, nauseous, boner… Eren counted his blessing as he made his way to the bathroom. He took a long, hot shower. With the banging headache and the almost banging dream about Levi, he considered banging his head against the wall. It would make the headache worse, but maybe he would be able to erase the dream. Unsure if he really wanted to erase it, he decided against it. Instead he vowed to never drink again (for the 3rd time in his life). He blamed the alcohol. The dream was just because he’d had too much to drink. And because of what Ymir had said. It was entirely Ymir and alcohol’s fault. Damn them.

* * *

 

Another workweek rolled by and Eren wasn’t sure how he felt about it. He’d managed to avoid the green-tie-guy from divorces, as well as Levi, to the best of his ability. He didn’t really want to avoid Levi, but he wasn’t ready to look him in the eyes just yet, so he didn’t go to the coffee shop that week. Unfortunately something, be it faith or karma, was working against his wishes. He ran into Levi everywhere. In the hall, the elevator, when he entered the building, when he left. And every single time his mind went straight back to the dream and felt a tingling feeling in his stomach, he got nervous, stumbled over his words and blushed every time their eyes met. He was being so obvious and he knew it all too well. He would notice more and more about him. Like, how he was short, but muscular. How well his suits fit him. Levi’s eyes were sharp and intense and looked like they couldn’t decide whether they wanted to be grey or blue. And the circles under his eyes seemed to be getting darker, which worried Eren a bit.

Five minutes to six. Friday, five minutes before Eren could go home. Five gentle minutes before his workday was over Ness popped up in front of him and asked him to stay late. He could’ve said no. He could’ve, but he didn’t. Ness instructed him to install new software into several computers. It was supposed to be Bertholt’s job, but Bertholt had called in sick that morning. As much as Eren wanted to go home and eat dinner, he also wanted to stay on the positive side with Ness, getting paid extra was definitely a factor and it never hurt to have someone owe you one, which Bertholt definitely would after this. It wasn’t hard work and wouldn’t take more than an hour at most.

At 18:35 they got a call. One of the printers wasn’t working. The caller wasn’t being very specific.  
“It won’t print!”  
Having worked there for months now, Eren knew that could mean anything. Something was stuck or it was out of ink or paper or it had internally exploded. Yes, people really had problems with that. Still, wanting to stretch his legs and muscles, Eren volunteered to go to the copy room and look into it.

Modern technology is a lot like people in some ways. At least Eren liked to think so. They can store information, give out information when needed, they only have a certain lifespan, they sometimes overheat and need rest to have the power to function properly. And sometimes, when they won’t listen to reason or logic, hitting them is the only option you have. Technology and people alike. Most likely it won’t do anything to fix the problem, but it doesn’t hurt to try (Ok, with people it might actually hurt). At the very least you get to vent your frustration in a way. An outlet.

So that’s what Eren did after trying countless times to reason with the overworked printer and failing every time. He bumped his fist into it with more force than he should have. It probably hurt him more than it hurt the machine, but the pain didn’t bother him when he heard the wonderful startup sound coming from the printer. He just starred at it in awe until it started giving birth to pieces of paper. The prints had probably been queued for a while by then and now they were all printed out, one at the time. Nobody else was in the room to claim any of them, so Eren waited for the machine to finish up printing. He gathered the papers up in a pile and put them down on an empty table. He probably shouldn’t leave them there unguarded, but that wasn’t really his problem…

Until he accidentally read from the paper on top of the pile. It wasn’t accidentally at all. He’d seen Levi’s name and curiosity grabbed a hold of him. It was a short email.

 _ To:  _ **_Hanji, Zoe_ **   
Sent: **_Saturday, April 25, 2015 18:15_ **   
From: **_Ackerman, Levi_ ** _  
Subject:  _ **_only 4 your 4 eyes_ **

**You’re the expert so look over it, but it’s pretty clear what he’s doing.  
**

* * *

 

Who had done what? Eren couldn’t help but chuckle at the fact that the oh-so-professional, stoic Levi used 4 instead of for. How very internet of him. Curiosity still had a strong grip on Eren’s mind so he continued to read. The email itself ended there, but text didn’t. What followed must have been an attachment to the email. A bank account reference. Eren notices Nile Dok’s name on the side, and then followed columns and rows of numbers, all the way down to the end. Eren lifted the piece of paper up to get a closer look only to notice the paper underneath was a continuation of the rows of numbers. He picked it up as well, and the next one, and the next one. All together he counted 11 similar pages. Unsure of both what it meant or what to do, a knot tied in his stomach. He had a bad feeling about it and a bad feeling about leaving them in the copy room for anyone to see, so he took them with him.

He went to find Hanji, but her assistant informed him that she was in a meeting and wouldn’t be back for a while. He sighed and went back to the elevator, rode it up and found Levi’s office.

“Hey Petra.” Eren greeted the redhead.

“Eren, hi. What are you doing so high up?” She smiled warmly at him, like she always did, while still tapping away at her keyboard.

“Is Levi here?” Eren asked, but he already knew the answer. He could see Levi sitting in his office through the class door, but he still felt like he had to ask. It was Petra’s job to judge who could go in and who couldn’t after all and Eren wasn’t about to storm in without permission. Petra knew everything about everyone, you did not want to be on her bad side. Petra stopped writing and looked up at Eren with curiosity and surprise. Of course she would be curious.

“He’s in. What’s it about?” She leaned over to the side of the desk, fingers hovering over the intercom.

“I found some paper in the printer. Looks like they belong to either him or Hanji.”

Petra didn’t ask any more questions, but pressed the button. “Eren wants to see you.”

Eren looked through the glass wall just in time to see Levi get the message. He looked abruptly up from his own screen and over at them, giving a short nod.  
“You may enter the dungeon.” Petra joked and nodded towards the door.

 

“Hey.” Eren smiled when he entered the office. “Sorry if I’m disturbing.”  
“No, not at all. Come in.” Levi leaned back in his chair. Eren hesitated, feeling uncertain. He may not completely have understood what the papers meant, but he knew they were Nile Dok’s, part owner of the firm, bank statements. Personal bank statements. Definitely not something that was meant for Eren’s eyes, and he had questions. Why did Levi have them in the first place? And what did the email mean, considering.

“What are you… what can I do for you?” Levi asked when Eren didn’t say anything. “Do you want to sit, or something?” His tone was gentle, inviting. Eren shook his head and took a deep breath.

“No, thank you. I just… I found these.” Eren walked over to the front of the desk and held out the papers for Levi to see. “I didn’t mean to read them or anything, but they were in the copy room, and I don’t know. I just, I didn’t know if they should be?”

Levi accepted the pile from Eren and his eyes widened in an instant. He looked through them, as to make sure they were all there before he put them down. Without a word he picked up his phone and tried to call someone, but it didn’t get through. He pressed the intercom.

“Petra! Get Hanji’s ass up here now!” His voice carried more authority and power than Eren had ever heard him use before. Eren just stood there, wondering if he’d done anything wrong, if Levi would use that voice towards him. It wasn’t the right time. Not the right time at all, but he couldn’t help but notice how deep Levi’s voice was, in a good way. In a very, very good way.

“Hanji is in a meeting.” Petra buzzed back.

“I want her up here as soon as she gets out.”

“Aye aye, Captain.”

 

Levi sighed and looked back at Eren. When he spoke his tone was back to normal.  
“Were there any more like these?” Eren shook his head in reply.  
“Did you read it?” Eren nodded.  
“Do you know what it is?”

“I think so.” Eren nodded slowly.

“I would really appreciate it if you didn’t tell anyone about this.”

Eren nodded again. “Okay, but can I ask you about it?” Levi looked as conflicted as Eren felt. The tense silence lasted long enough for Eren to notice as certain déjà vu feeling as he looked the other man in the eye.

“I think it’s better if you don’t know anything about this.”

“Okay.” He didn’t know what else to say. Unable to move, he just stood there staring at Levi. A moment of silence passed. “You’re really not going to tell me anything?” He was curious. Especially after seeing Levi’s reaction. He wanted to know. “Can you at least tell me whether you having that is legal or not?”

Levi sighed and looked away. “I… can’t tell you anything. I’m sorry, Eren.”

“Okay, but does it have anything to do with the file you had Annie decode?” He knew he was being persistent and probably annoying to some degree, but he lacked the self-control to stop. “I won’t tell anyone.”

“It’s not that I don’t trust you. It’s just better if you don’t know anything about this. Please forget that you saw this.” Levi pointed to the stack of paper. Eren pouted. He was disappointed.

Levi sighed again, louder. “At least for now, ok? I can’t tell you anything about this yet.”

“Aye, aye, captain.” Eren smiled. It might not have been meant as one, but Eren took it as a promise that Levi would tell him about it later. “I’ll talk to you later then.” He turned around to leave.

“Eren.” Levi called out. Eren’s turn turned to a 360 and he was again looking at Levi. He looked hesitant, standing behind his desk. “Are you not going to the coffee shop anymore?”

“No, I am. I’ll see you on Monday.” Eren couldn’t hold back his smile. Levi smiled back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sry bout mistaks.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Levi pov

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no idea what I'm talking about here. I just wanted to use fancy words.

“We all know that. The question is, how do we prove it?”

“We look at his personal account.”

“That would be illegal.”

“So?”

“We’re a law-firm, Levi.”

“Erwin, what he’s doing is illegal. You might be, but I’m not above breaking the law to take him down.”

“I’ve gotta say, honestly, I’m with Levi on this one, Erwin. Besides, it’s not like we need enough to prove his guilt in front of a jury. We just need enough to make him step down himself. A little blackmail never hurt no one.”

“Not you too, Hanji.” Erwin leaned back in his chair. “I want him gone just as much as you two do, but we have to at least try to do it the right way. If we use illegal material as blackmail and he finds out, we no longer have anything to hold against him. Don’t for a second think he won’t take the rest of the firm down with him.”

Erwin’s words were final. He was right, of course. Levi knew his sketchy approach was a lost battle before it even began. They all sat in silence for a while.

“So what would you have us do?” Hanji finally asked. She leaned against Erwin’s desk. The room smelled like coffee after she had spilled a cup of coffee over Erwin’s desk earlier. The smell was making Levi nauseous.

“We need solid evidence. We have to look at the numbers. I’ll contact Mike and have him send over the books from Pixis. Hanji, you get what you can from Moblit. He still works in Dok’s building, right? I trust him. You’re the expert here, so I need you to look over the books and see if you can find anything. Anything at all.”

“Ehh… hi.” An unfamiliar voice sounded from behind them. Levi turned his head to look at the intruder. A young man stood in the doorway, dressed simply in shirt and jeans, holding a keyboard.  
“I have a keyboard.”

That was the first time he saw Eren. He had acted hostile and probably glared at him, if he knew himself at all. The boy had walked in on them having a conversation about taking down one of the part-owners of the company; of course Levi had acted a little bit suspicious. Maybe. Hopefully he hadn’t heard anything from their conversation.

After the new keyboard had been plugged in, Hanji got her 3 minutes of interrogating him and he left, Erwin ended the meeting with one final order directed at Levi.

“I’m not above bending the rules in our favor. I want Nile gone, even if it costs me my right arm. In case finding legal, solid proof doesn’t work, we need a backup. Levi, you do what you have to do.”

 

* * *

 

 

When Levi weeks later called Eren up to his office it was because Eren’s name was the only one he knew from the IT staff. With help from an old friend he had managed to get his hands on Dok’s private e-mails in order to get extortion material. However, he wasn’t prepared for some of the emails to contain coded messages. Or rather, encrypted, as Eren had called it.

Levi had two major problems. The first was one part-owner, senior partner, who was cunningly embezzling money from his own firm. Quite a lot of money he might add. Had it not been so much they might never have caught in to it. Erwin had wanted Nile Dok gone for a while, from even before they suspected he was embezzling. They never saw eye to eye. Levi trusted Erwin’s judgement. Now that they knew what he was doing, they had to prove it.

Thanks to the blonde girl Eren had sent up to help him decode the message, they now had proof, but Erwin didn’t want to use it just yet. They could blackmail Nile with it, but if he discovered how they had obtained it he could turn around and use that against them. So they were still working on finding evidence through their financial books. If they found that they could pressure him to leave the firm. Threaten to sue and whatnot. Best case scenario: They would present him with legally obtained evidence and he would step down on his own. That way it wouldn’t hurt the firm’s reputation too much.

The second problem he had encountered was his newfound fascination with Eren, who seemed to show up everywhere.

Sure, he had only showed up because he had been called for the first couple of times, but then he popped up at the coffee shop. The coffee shop that was all of 10 minutes away from the office. The coffee shop Levi visited every morning to avoid running into anyone from the office early in the morning.

Levi wasn’t sure why he had stayed behind to wait for him, that time. It just felt like the right thing to do. He was glad he did. Eren had figured the blonde girl could help him with the unreadable file and suggested he watch The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, which he had watched, the American version, later that week. It was a good movie.

He couldn’t put his finger on what about the boy fascinated him so much. He was attractive, definitely. And it was so obvious he wasn’t as calm and collected as he tried to appear. And then he had made Levi laugh. Levi could count on one hand how many people had made hin laugh in the last 10 years, and Eren was now one of them.

 

* * *

  
Levi was glad to see Eren at the coffee shop Monday morning. For a week he hadn’t showed up and it left Levi to wonder why. He was slightly worried he had said something wrong or that Eren was bored with their conversations already. He was relieved the incident Friday evening hadn’t scared him off and grateful Eren didn’t mention or ask more about it.

Levi almost offered to pay for Eren’s coffee, but stopped himself. He didn’t want to create an awkward situation that could possible make Eren not come back again. Levi got his Americano and Eren got a caramel latte and shared his mixed feelings about suits on their walk to the office.

“They look so good, but they’re way too expensive. And uncomfortable. I don’t get how you can wear one every single day.”

“You get used to it.” Levi said and took a sip off his drink. “I bet you’d look good in a suit.” He mumbled it into his cup, unsure if Eren heard it or not. And he never got to find out.

“Good morning, Levi. Eren.” Hanji greeted them the moment they entered the office building. She was holding a stack of papers in her hands.

“Good morning Hanji.” Eren greeted her back. Levi only gave a short nod.

“I’m sorry to cut your pleasant conversation short, but I’m afraid I have to steal Levi from you Eren.” She smiled apologetically. She looked tired, Levi noticed. He probably didn’t look the best himself. They had both been stressed about the Nile’s case for some time. She turned to Levi.  
“We have an emergency meeting with Recon Corp. The car is waiting for us outside.”

“Sounds like you have a fun morning cut out for you. Good luck with that.” Eren said before he took off for the elevator. Levi stared after him. Hanji waved a folder in front of his face to get contact. He blinked a couple of times before turning his attention back to her.

“Petra already got your files ready.” She handed him the folders. They walked out the doors together and too the car.

“What happened? I thought everything with Recon was good and settled.”

“If I have to guess, I’d say Dok happened. There was a loophole in the contract and MP Inc. retracted their offer last second, leaving Recon vulnerable and it looks like Garrison Inc. is ready to take advantage of that. They’ve been approaching the shareholders of Recon. It’s a hot mess right now. Pixis is flying in. He’ll be here in a couple of hours. Erwin wants the storm to have calmed down by then. He wants to discuss Dok with Pixis when he gets here, but we can’t do that if we have this case hanging over our heads.”

“A hostile takeover. What the hell? They are aware that they’re all being represented by the same firm? This could create a huge conflict of interested for us.” Levi wanted to drown himself in his Americano. It was too early in the morning for this. “We’d have to hire independent consultants to handle it.”

“Told you it was a mess. Hopefully we can solve this puzzle before it gets to that.” The car drove through the city. Hanji was smiling a tired smile. “And by the way, don’t think I didn’t notice that.”

“Notice what?”

“The way you looked at him. At Eren. You even smiled when you talked to him. And now. You’re almost blushing.”

“I’m not blushing.” Levi rolled his eyes and looked out the window.

“No, but if you had normal human expressions, that look, right there, would be equal to blushing.”

“You’re delusional.”

“I think you mean observant.”

“Yeah, that too.” Maybe a little bit too observant, in Levi’s opinion.

 

* * *

 

 

The meeting with Recon Corp didn’t take long. 30 minutes of getting all the facts straight, looking at the contract to see what had gone wrong and finding a solution. After this they went had a 3 hour long over-the-phone meeting with the CEO of MP Inc. which consisted mostly of Levi telling him how much of an idiot he was being. All in all it took Levi and Hanji about 4 hours to solve the case. Pixis only made it there in time to listen to them close and renegotiate the deal.

Pixis was pleased, Erwin was pleased, and Nile Dok seemed pleased. Levi and Hanji both missed lunch and were not so pleased. They were supposed to meet with Erwin, Pixis and Mike back at the office, but decided they deserved a long lunch break, so they took a detour on the way back. More like Hanji decided they deserved it and Levi didn’t disagree. Erwin would surely forgive them for being a couple of minutes late.

 “You could ask him out for coffee.” They had settled at a small sushi place. “Eren I mean.” Hanji said, halfway through their meal, while shoving a piece into her mouth. Levi handed her a napkin.

“We get coffee almost every morning. I don’t think he would be intere-”

“Then ask him out for lunch. He’d definitely say yes. Have you seen the way he blushes when you talk to him?” She dipped another piece in soy sauce and didn’t wait for Levi to answer. “He was the one who found the email in the printer, right? Did you tell him what it was? Or why you had it?”

“No. I think he knows what it is, but I wouldn’t tell him why we had it.” Levi thought back. Eren was definitely interested in why they had it, but he had refused to tell him.

“Why not?”

“If he knew it would leave him exposed. If this whole thing with Nile goes to hell, Eren knowing anything about it could hurt him.”

“Ain’t that adorable. You were trying to protect him.” Hanji grinned. Levi grimaced. It wasn’t exactly how he had looked at it, but it was true in a sense. “Well, you don’t have to worry about that anymore. I spent the whole weekend looking over the books Moblit sent over and found what we need.”

Levi almost choked on his food. “What?” He stared at her and she just looked back at him with an idiotic grin, unconcerned. “Are you sure? Does Erwin know?”

“Yeah, yeah. It’s all in the numbers. And no, Erwin doesn’t know yet. I was going to tell him this morning, but he was late and super stressed about the Recon thing. Wouldn’t stop talking to listen to what I had to say, so I figured it could wait.”

“Hanji, you imbecile. You genius imbecile.” Levi got up from his seat. Hanji looked at the last of her sushi with a longing expression as Levi dragged her up from her seat and pushed her towards the doors.

“So are you going to ask him out then?” She asked once they were seated in the car once again. Levi sighed and told the driver to go back to the office.

“Fine, once we’re done with this shit.”

“So, today then.” Hanji smirked. Levi knew well she wouldn’t give up, but he wasn’t against the idea to begin with. It was nice to have someone to push you over the edge sometimes.

 

* * *

 

 

He never got to talk to Eren that day, but Levi still felt 90pounds lighter that evening. With Hanji’s new information they could finally start the proceedings of getting Nile to step down. When they got back to the office it was already passed 9. Levi looked out the window just in time to see the streetlights go on. Erwin and Hanji were just as tired as he was. They were all looking forward to getting a home and getting some sleep. Nobody said anything as the three rode the elevator up. Hanji got off first.

Levi was tempted to press for the 24th floor. Maybe, just maybe, if he was lucky, Eren had to work late. It was wishful thinking, so he didn’t. The day wasn’t supposed to drag out so long. After they got back from lunch they had several meetings, phone calls, hysteric clients, planning and a late, behind closed doors-meeting with Pixis and Mike.

He leaned against the wall, waiting patiently for his own floor. Hanji had talked him into asking Eren out. The thought made him nervous and he wanted to get it over with. Go on a date or get rejected. He didn’t like pining.

Erwin nudged his shoulder, making him realize they were already at his floor. “Go home and get some sleep. You can talk to him tomorrow.” Of course Hanji had told Erwin as well. Levi got off the elevator.

His corner office came into view, together with a redhead, sitting alone behind her desk.  
“Petra. What are you still doing here?” Honestly, he wasn’t surprised. Petra laughed.

“You’re still here, so I’m still here. That’s how it works.”

“We don’t pay you enough for that.”

“You don’t pay me enough in general.” Petra smiled confident and handed him a folder. “Transcription from the disposition you missed today, but don’t start with it now. Look over it tomorrow. You look like you’re about ready to pass out.”

Levi put the folder in his office together with a couple of others. He grabbed his briefcase, which had been put there and neglected ever since lunch, and went back to Petra. He loosened his tie and waited for her as she turned off her computer and put on her coat, and they made their way to the elevator together.

“Did the meetings go well?” She asked.

“As well as they could have, I suppose.” Levi was too tired of the whole ordeal to get into it. He knew Petra would figure everything out whether he gave her information or not.

“Good.” She smiled her knowing smile. “You missed a very interesting day at the office, by the way.”

“Oh?”

“Eren from IT was fired.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The thrilling and rushed conclusion of Eren’s recent job experience. A recount of Eren’s 24 hours of unemployment. A lot of people get sacked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope it's not terrible c:

08:38 Eren could still make it to the coffee shop if he hurried, but he didn’t move. As much as he wanted to run to Levi and explain what happened, he didn’t. Trying to pinpoint what their relationship was exactly was difficult. Friends? Acquaintances? Two people who just happened to had worked in the same building and got coffee from the same place every morning? Who Eren may or may not almost have had a sex dream about? Whatever their relationship, Eren felt like he should talk to him. He wanted to talk to him. Tell him what happened and explain that he doesn’t usually go around beating people up for no reason.

At the same time, he didn’t want to. Admitting defeat and loss was embarrassing. He had just lost his job. Like Levi would want to talk to him now. The fact that Eren worried so much about what Levi would think of him bothered him too, but he did. He cared. Maybe he could go to the coffee shop and pretend nothing had happened. Continue as they had.

With that thought his head fell down on the kitchen table. It was quiet. Mikasa and Armin were still asleep. Eren hadn’t slept at all. He was tired, but couldn’t sleep. He’d spent all night writing job applications for various jobs, knowing he couldn’t sit around and mope forever. Might as well move on as soon as possible. He didn’t have time to throw himself a pity party or feel sorry for himself, even though he did. A little bit. And what he was doing now, just sitting by the kitchen table with a cup of coffee, cursing his circumstances could very well qualify as a pity party.

He tapped a steady rhythm at the table with his fingers while examining his hand, judging the red marks on his knuckles, like he had no fault in why they were there. The skin wasn’t quite torn, just sore and red.

“Maybe I should’ve hit him harder.” He mumbled to himself and then continued to sigh like it was a language of its own. The sun was rising outside, waking up the city. It was too bright. The weather didn’t fit his mood and it only made the day feel worse. Not even the weather gods would stand by him, on his side, and cast shadows over the city. A little rain to leave the rest of the city in the same foul mood he felt. No, it had to be a sunny, warm, spring day.

08:52 No matter how fast he ran he wouldn’t make it in time now.

* * *

 

He should’ve listened to Armin. Rule of thumb: Always follow Armin’s advice. Eren knew that, but he still hadn’t told his boss about the green-tie-guy. Not until it was too late.

The day had started out so good too. He met with Levi in the morning, who, in Eren’s opinion, looked ridiculously good that morning. His hair looked soft and just, perfect. He was wearing his normal outfit and a blue tie, but was carrying his suit jacket, rather than wearing it, so Eren got a better view of his muscular arms. And while they waited for coffee he had rolled up his sleeve. Rolled up sleeves should be illegal. The whole scene had Eren ranting about suits the whole time.

And then Levi had smiled when they talked. One of his rare, genuine smiles. When someone rarely smiles, it’s like it matters so much more when they actually do. And the smile sticks in your head, you know.

Everyone at the office had been in a good mood. They had the perfect amount of work. Just enough to keep you occupied, but not so much it was stressful. But then, a little after lunch, he’d been called out. The green tie guy, of course. Eren was in such a good mood that day, he figured 5 minutes with him wouldn’t ruin it.

He was wrong. So very wrong.

He snapped.

The staring he could tolerate, but when the guy had actually touched him… he lost it. Plain and simple.

“Oi, dude. What the hell?” Eren barked at him and slapped away an unwanted hand, but the hand didn’t give up that easily.  
“Come on, it’s just a bit of fun.” The words were still burning in Eren’s mind.

He had lost in for a shattered second and punched the guy in the face, sending him flying with his back into a chair. Both the green tie guy and the chair fell to the floor with a less than satisfying thud. The man was still conscious. He was spread out on the floor, looking confused. It took him a moment to grasp what had just happened. Confusion turned to shock, turned to fear, but as he realized Eren wasn’t going to do anything else the fear turned to anger. He got up from the floor. Caressing his jaw. A yelling match between the two erupted.

Fortunately, it only lasted a few seconds before two men came running into the room and hauled them away from each other before anything more could happen.

Eren knew what was coming when he marched back to the IT room, yet he wasn’t sure he regretted it. Maybe a little bit. Not the punch itself, but doing something that would most likely cost him his job. All he could hope for was that Ness would give him the opportunity to tell his side of the story. If not to save his job, to at least redeem himself within the department.

He was relieved to find the IT room almost vacant. Only Ness and Annie were in. Ness was on the phone. He did not look happy. He saw Eren entering, frowned and pointed at a chair. RIP Eren.

Eren sat down and tried to calm down as he waited for the inevitable.

“Eren!” Ness walked over to him. The phone call was apparently over. Eren took a deep breath and closed his eyes, not wanting to see his boss’ disapproving look.  
“Care to explain what happened up there?” Eren opened his eyes again. Ness threw his arms out. He was still holding onto the phone. Annie looked over at them, vaguely interested.

“He’s been sexually harassing me. He groped my fucking ass. He had it coming.” Ok, so maybe Eren wasn’t totally calm yet. Ness kept quiet as Eren tried his best to explain what had happened and what had been going on previous to this incident.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” The disappointment in Ness’ voice sore through Eren like small daggers. He didn’t know how to answer the question, so he didn’t say anything. “You should’ve told me. I would’ve done something. I wouldn’t have sent you back there. You should’ve told me. I believe you.” Ness paused and crossed his arms. “I’m sure they guy deserved it, but nevertheless, we have zero tolerance of violence here.” Another pause. Eren knew what was coming next and he could tell Ness was reluctant to say it. “He’s demanding I fire you. I’m afraid I don’t have much of a choice here, Eren. I have to let you go. Effective immediately.”

So there it was.

“I’m sorry, Eren.” Ness finished, his voice filled with regret and pity. All Eren could do was nod. He looked at Annie, who was now visibly interested in their conversation. She didn’t say anything, just frowned at the both of them. Eren was glad nobody else was there to witness the scene.

5 minutes later Eren had collected his stuff and collected himself enough to politely apologize to Ness for the inconvenience and trouble and thank him for his time there. He gave Annie a short nod, which she mimicked, and headed out the door. He debated whether or not to look for either Marco or Ymir to let them know, but as he walked to the elevator he could feel angry tears pressing behind his eyes, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to keep it together much longer. He had to get out of there. 

* * *

 

 

“Good morning.” 09:15 Mikasa entered the kitchen already dressed and ready for her day. She poured herself a cup of the coffee Eren had previously made.

“Mornin’.” Eren replied, his head still on the table. She sat down next to him and ruffled his hair. It was her way of saying ‘cheer up’. Her hand rested on his head. Eren closed his eyes and enjoyed the touch and silence.

Armin and Mikasa had been surprisingly calm about the whole situation. Armin immediately started his thought process of trying to solve it. Suggesting all kinds of options Eren could look into. He could go back to school, join the military, sigh up for different programs… the opportunities were endless according to Armin. Mikasa spent a good hour in silence, which she later reviled was used to design a revenge plan. Eren was all for it, but Armin talked them out of it.  

“What are you going to do today?” Mikasa asked after minutes of silence. Eren refused to open his eyes. He hummed something that could sound like ‘I don’t know’. He had already sent out countless applications via email, all he could do now was wait for responses. “You should call mom.”

“I don’t want to worry her.”

“You mean you don’t want to be scolded.” With one last tug of his hair, Mikasa retracted her hand and Eren lifted his head. Armin appeared in the doorway to the kitchen. His hair was a wild mess. Blonde strays sticking out in every direction. He hadn’t even bothered to put on pants before leaving his bedroom. Armin was far from a morning person. Nothing got done before he got his morning coffee. He got a cup and joined them at the table. By now the sun was already high on the sky and lighting up the whole room. Eren stared out the window. Armin scrolled through his phone. They sat there in a comfortable silence until Mikasa had to leave.

“I only have a couple of classes today. Let’s go for a run when I get back.” She suggested as he put on her shoes. Eren agreed. Exercise was exactly what he needed to feel less like a failure.  
“And don’t forget to call mom.” She called over her shoulder and walked out of the apartment. Eren pretended not to have heard it.

“Hey, Eren.” Armin mumbled form behind his cup once the door slammed shut. He was looking at his phone. “If it helps, it looks like you weren’t the only person who was fired from the firm yesterday.”

“What?”

“Yeah, looks like Nile Dok stepped down. They issued a statement only hours ago saying he was leaving the company.” Eren felt his heart stop at Armin’s words. “Not that it’s very significant or anything, I just thought it was weird. He’s still young-ish. And young-ish people don’t step down from such a powerful position for no reason. He was most likely voted out.” Armin looked up and noticed Eren’s conflicted expression. “Did you know him?”

“Uhm, no. He’s head of one of the other offices, in a different city, I think.”

“Oh, I see.”

Eren scrambled his mind. Usually, this wouldn’t have meant anything to him, but Nile’s name had come up a couple of times now. He wondered if his sudden decision to leave was connected to Levi and Hanji having his account information in any way. Armin eyed Eren from across the table.

“What are you thinking?” He asked. Eren shook his head.

“It’s probably nothing. I don’t know, dude. That place was pretty shady from the beginning.”

“Tell me.” Armin’s curious nature sparkled in his eyes and he leaned over the table. Eren considered it.

“You can’t tell anyone, ok? I promised Levi I would forget about it.” Armin nodded, agreeing.

“So, a bit over a week ago I was repairing this printer, right?-“ He told Armin about the email he found in the printer. Armin listened patiently.

“Sounds shady, indeed.” He nodded when Eren had finished. “You could possibly blackmail him to get your job back. If he told you to keep quiet about it, he probably wasn’t supposed to have that. I don’t know enough to make detailed theories here, but I’m guessing it wasn’t totally legal.”

“You think so?”

“Yeah, probably. I don’t know. I’m not sure.” Armin looked at the ceiling, thinking. Eren thought about the idea of trying to blackmail Levi for a moment. The thought was thrilling, but he could never do that.

“I couldn’t do that to Levi.” He concluded.

“Who is he anyway”?

“Can you please put on some pants or something?”

“No, I don’t have classes for another hour. No pants. And don’t change the subject.”

“Levi? He’s just one of the lawyers.”

“Levi Ackerman? He’s the one Ymir mentioned earlier, right? She said you two looked chummy.” A knowing smile crept its way onto Armin’s tired face.

“Ymir would never use the word ‘chummy’.”

“So you’re friends?” Armin asked, ignoring Eren’s pathetic attempts to direct the conversation.

“I guess. I don’t know, Armin. We talked a lot. He’s nice.”

“Nice personality or appearance?”

Eren hesitated. Then a suddenly a light bulb with the letters ‘fuck it’ lit up in Eren’s mind. Levi wasn’t his boss’ boss’ boss anymore. He didn’t work there. It didn’t matter what he said or thought about him anymore. “Both.”

 

Eren never called his mother. He did however receive a call from Jean after Armin left. Surprisingly, the call cheered Eren up sufficiently. If anything, at least Eren had made Jean proud.  
“Did he bleed?” Was the first thing Jean asked, not needing Eren to tell him what he had done. Marco had probably already told him everything.

“Nah, but his face was red. He might have a black eye today, if I’m lucky.”

“Open palm?”

“Closed fist.”

“Knockout?”

“No, he had a thick skull. I sent him flying across the room.”

“Should’ve hit him harder.” Jean laughed at the other end. “I’m proud of you, dude.”

“Really, horse face? You’re a bad influence. Don’t project your values onto Marco. He’s too good.”

“I know. Man, he feels bad. He keeps saying he shouldn’t have agreed with me that one time we talked about it and the he wishes he could’ve done something. He tried to talk to your boss, but-“

“There’s no way I could blame him for it. He shouldn’t feel bad. Jeez.” Eren sighed into the phone.

Around lunch Eren declared his pity party to be over. He cleaned up the kitchen, went grocery shopping and spent some time catching up on White Collar. He tried not to think about his current position. It proved impossible. His fighting spirit threatened to surface and made him feel like he constantly had to keep himself occupied with something, but there wasn’t a lot he could do. 

* * *

 

 

Mikasa got caught up at school and didn’t return until after 18:00. Eren had almost fallen asleep on the sofa. Sleep deprived and feeling slightly anxious, he still agreed to join her for a run. They ran in a park close to their apartment. The sun was still up.

A sudden bolt of extra energy filled Eren’s body once they started. He somehow he managed to keep up with Mikasa the whole time. He even prompted them to run an extra round. They were both sweating and panting when the slowly jogged back to the apartment. They both felt numb from the run.

Mikasa had one hand on the door handle, ready to unlock the door, when a black car drove by. The car slowed down and stopped by the curb not far from them. Mikasa stopped her actions and eyed the suspicious car. Eren, oblivious to the car, stood impatiently behind her and urged her to get inside. He wanted to get a shower and go to bed. He didn’t look over at the car until he heard the noise of a car door slamming shut. Midsentence, he looked over and a confused feeling, a mixture of joy and panic bobbled up in him when he saw Levi approaching them.

“Levi?” Eren was in disbelief. “What are you doing here?”

“Business.” Levi replied short and came to a halt in front of them. Mikasa looked from the other man to Eren and back again, trying to judge the situation. She became tense when she noticed Eren taking a step back, almost like he wanted to run away.

“Oh shit, am I in trouble?” Eren asked. Levi opened his mouth to answer, but was cut off by Eren. “I claim self-defense.” Eren exclaimed. “That guy had it coming. It was provoked. He deserved it. I was just protecting myself. Standing up to him. Standing my ground and that stuff. I don’t know what he said or what you’ve heard from Petra, but I swear, I had a good reason. You can’t seriously sue me for that. That asshole has been-“ He stopped his rambling when he noticed Levi’s strained smile. He looked like he was fighting to keep himself from laughing. “What?”

“Maybe you should take the fifth, Eren.” Mikasa spoke up, her eyes locked on Levi. Levi glanced over at her and they took a moment to have a short staring contest. Both with serious expressions, it was like they were having a conversation without words and within seconds tey reached some form of mutual understanding, silently approving of each other.

“What?” Eren asked again.

“She’s saying you should shut up.” Levi explained. “And New York doesn’t have a stand your ground law. Not that you would be able to use it in this case even if we did. Anyway, that’s not why I’m here. You’re not in trouble.”

“Oh.” Despite not being completely convinced, Eren let himself laugh a short, relieved laugh. He tilted his head to the side and waited for Levi to explain what he was really doing there, but Levi didn’t say anything. He just looked away. Mikasa used the opportunity to excuse herself and head inside the building, leaving Eren and Levi out on the pavement, alone.

“So, then, what are you doing here?” Eren tried again. Levi still didn’t look directly at him.

“I heard about what happened.” Levi paused. He hesitated. “I talked to the IT staff and they explained what really happened.”

“You did?”

“Well, no. Not really. Hanji talked to the IT staff and then she told me what they said.” There was a subtle change in his expression. “Was that your girlfriend?”

Eren was confused for a moment before he realized who Levi was talking about. He laughed nervously again. “Mikasa? No, she’s my sister. We live together.”

“Oh.” Levi finally looked directly at Eren. “Right. So, I’m actually here to give you your job back. If you want it.”

“What?” Eren was in shock. Too many feelings floating inside his stomach for him to distinguish any of them. He had not been expecting that.

“Yes. We looked closer at the circumstances surrounding your dismissal yesterday and we thought it unfair that you be punished for it. So, we’d like to offer you your job back.” His tone had change to formal, professional. Eren tried to stand tall and straight, but there was something about Levi’s professional voice that made his legs want to cave under him.

“I thought you had a zero tolerance of violence?”

“Fucker probably deserved it.” Formal tone gone. “And Rod has been fired, so you don’t have to worry about him if you decide to come back.”

“Rod? Is that his name?” Eren smiled. Levi snorted at his question.

“You gave the man a black eye and you don’t even know his name?”

“He was referred to as green tie guy on my floor.”

“Let me guess, he wore a lot of green ties.” Levi was smiling now too. Their conversation felt natural.

“Yeah, a lot of green, fucking ugly ties. You fired him? Can you even do that?”

“I spoke to him this morning and he confessed his sins and all that. So yeah, I kicked him out of there. I doubt Erwin would oppose.” Levi said. “So do you want it or not?”

“Can I think about it?” Eren asked with a smile. The response was clearly not what Levi had been expecting.

“Eh, yeah. Sure.” He dug his hand down his pocket and fished out a card and handed it to Eren. “Just give me a call when you’ve decided.” He paused. “Or if there’s anything else.”

“Okay.” Eren grinned as he looked down at the card in his hand. It felt like a bolder had been lifted off his shoulders and he could finally breathe for the first time in 24 hours. It had only been 24 hours.

“I guess I’ll talk to you later then.”

“Yeah, I’ll call soon.”

Levi turned around to leave and Eren walked up to the door. Eren was hit by a second wave of warm feelings. It had been a miserable 24 hours, but damn, did this feel good. The pleasant feeling of knowing everything would work out. He didn’t actually need to think about it. He already knew he would go back to his old job, he just didn’t want it to be too easy for them. It was probably a bad idea since he knew he wasn’t essential to the firm, but he didn’t care.

“Oi, Eren. One more thing.”

“Hm?” He turned to find Levi looking at him again.

He looked nervous. Levi didn’t look like the confident lawyer Levi at all. His eyes had softened and he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, like he wanted to be pacing, but he couldn’t move.

“About those documents you found-“ He started, waiting for signs that Eren knew what he was talking about. Eren simply nodded. He liked seeing this side of Levi as well. It was something new. Definitely interesting. He only wished he didn’t look like such a mess himself from running.  
“I guess I owe you an explanation.”

Eren didn’t feel like Levi owed him any kind of explanation. He could already somewhat guess what it had been about, and levi had just given him his job back, but Eren wasn’t going to let this opportunity slide. “Yeah.”

“How about over lunch?”

There was a long pause, which seemed to make Levi even more uncomfortable. It took Eren a long moment to register what the other had just said. Once it started to sink in he felt his face heat up and he feared his legs would really cave under him this time.

“Lunch?”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to. It was just a suggestion-“

“Like a date, lunch?” Eren knew he was blushing when the words slipped out of his mouth.

“Like a date, lunch.” Levi repeated. He had gathered himself enough to look confident again. “But, like I said. It’s fine if you don’t want to. You can just forget I asked.” He looked just about ready to dismiss the whole thing without receiving a proper answer.

“Wait, what? No. I mean, yes.” Eren stumbled over his words. “Yeah, that’d be nice.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Levi and Eren have not been interacting enough in this fic and I am sorry. I got caught up in all the other stuff. I’ll try to make up for it the last chapter.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The predictable conclusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have no acceptable excuse for this… how many months has it been? Too many.  
> But you see, I planned it well. It’s my birthday, so you can’t be mad at me today. Tomorrow, yes, but not today. 
> 
> Seriously, thank you so much for kudos and comments and everything! I know this isn’t the most dramatic and entertaining fic, but I had fun writing it, so thank you for reading.

_6 months later…_

 

They had decided to keep their relationship a secret, but judging from how people were slowly starting to act differently around him, Eren deemed it to be the worst kept secret of the building. That’s what you get for secretly dating one of the senior partners, who also happen to have the Queen of Gossip as their secretary, and you’re having a hard time keeping your hands off each other, and all the walls are made of see-through glass. There’s really nowhere you can hide, no rooms to sneak into for a short make out sessions, except maybe the bathroom, but Levi would never agree to that.

A quirk Eren had discovered about Levi in the time they had been together was his impossible standards for hygiene and cleanliness. The only place in the building that was cleaned after his standards was his own office.

Most days they would go out and get lunch together, but Eren still enjoyed eating lunch in the vacant cafeteria ever now and then. It was quiet and relaxing. Today was one of those days.

Levi had court and had already warned he might have to work late the rest of the week. He was working on a case where a mother was suing her own son, claiming he was trying to steal her money. Levi, defending the already successful son, was trying to prove the woman was crazy. Remembering how frustrated and defeated Levi had looked when ranting about the case made Eren smile to himself.

“Hey Eren.” Ymir stood in front of him in the almost empty room, dragging him away from his thoughts. Slightly embarrassed, having been caught off guard smiling to himself like a crazy person, he greeted her back. He had been peacefully eating his sandwich until Ymir decided to show up and crash his lonely lunch party.

“Taking an early lunch?” Eren asked her and, having learned from past mistakes, gripped his sandwich tight, bringing to close to his chest. Ymir held up her hands, giving him the peace sign, making no attempt to snatch away his food, she sat down at the opposite side of the table.

“I deserve it.” She groaned. “Some guy from crime yelled at me because his screen was messed up.”

“What was wrong with it?”

“Nothing. IT was just sideways. How is it possible to be so incapable of understanding basic…” She couldn’t finish the sentence, but rather made a loud frustrated sound and clenched her fists. Eren forgot all about his food and laughed at his friend.

“Goddamn shitheads.” He laughed, consciously noting how his vocabulary had become more vulgar as of late. Levi had a bad influence on his language and Eren was sure his mother would not be pleased, had she known.

“Yeah,” Ymir huffed. “I’m glad you’re here though. It’s rare to see you in here these days.”

“I eat here all the time.” Eren protested, but perhaps Ymir was right. Eren had now turned into one of those people. The ones who left the office for their 40 minute break just to get lunch… Levi was definitely a bad influence.

 

Their first date had been close to perfect, or as perfect as a date can get when the person you’re out with is essentially confessing to a crime. The small restaurant they went to was carefully balanced between snobbish and lowkey, with delicious food and friendly servers. It was a lunch date, so they both settles with water, even though wine might have felt more appropriate.

Dating tip: Confessing to a crime is a great ice breaker, Eren had learned. Levi wasted no time with explaining everything that had happened, as nonchalantly and short phrased as he possibly could have. Once the irony of a lawyer breaking the law hit Eren he laughed for a good minute and every tense sense of awkwardness and nervousness flew out the window. After that the conversation was flowing, filled with friendly bantering, confessing small secrets and guilty pleasures, discussing movies and equally dry humor from both sides of the table. Before they knew it 90 minutes had passed by, way longer than a normal lunch break should be.

They had a small argument about who should pay for their meal, both wanting to do it, neither backing down, they were equals when it came to being stubborn and ended up splitting the bill, and tipping their waitress double.

Since then they often went out for lunch. They tried different places, but no place came close to the first restaurant, and the waitress, she was now their biggest supporter and fan, knowing their orders by heart and greeting them by names.

The weather had changed and the news kept talking about the possibility of snow in the next few weeks. The city itself looked greyer and darker, but the grey atmosphere that comes with a steel grey city wasn’t enough to effect Eren’s overall cheery mood.

His lunch break was over soon after Ymir joined him, so he was forced to leave her and go back down to his own floor. He threw away the remains of his forgotten sandwich and headed for the elevator.

“Mr. Ackerman.” He mock greeted and stepped on the elevator with a wide smile. Levi was standing there alone, back straight, briefcase in hand, waiting patiently to reach his own floor. His expression didn’t change once he saw Eren and greeted him with a stern nod.

“How did court go?” Eren stood next to Levi and watched the doors as they closed, separating them from the rest of the workplace, and moved up. Eren was going down, but he’d take the ride.

“Shit,” Levi said “the crazy bitch can’t tell the sun from her lawyer’s asshole-“

“Gross Levi!”

“-least her own son from the judge, but they still think she’s capable to taking care of herself. If anyone is trying to steal her money it’s that fucking douchebag of a lawyer. I almost feel bad for her.”

“Wow, you actually care about other people.” Eren teased.

“Hey, I said almost. Don’t spread that shit around, I have a reputation to uphold.” Levi defended himself, making Eren laugh.

“I guess that means you’ll be working late?”

“I could probably push some work over on the associates. Did you have anything in mind?” A smirk crept across his face and the two looked at each other from the corner of their eyes.

“Thought maybe you wanted company tonight.” Eren suggested.

“You have a key, Eren. You don’t have to ask.”

“Great!” Eren exclaimed and turned 90 to face the other man. “I can make dinner.”

Levi turned towards him, closed the little distance between them and tugged lightly at Eren’s shirt. Eren followed the silent order and leaned forward so they could share a small kiss before the elevator finally reached its destination. They pulled apart just as the doors opened.

Sneaking around was fun, even if they weren’t exactly very good at it. Eren tried to contain his blushing when the doors opened and they saw Petra waiting for her boss outside. She smiled friendly, knowingly, but didn’t say anything. Neither did Levi as he stepped off the elevator, not before pressing the button to the 24th floor and sending Eren a small smile as the doors closed behind him.

Eren crossed his arms and leaned against the wall. He had been wrong about one thing. Well, no, he had been wrong about a lot of things, but this one thing was what was one his mind and one of the few things he really didn’t mind being wrong about.

He had thought just because Levi rarely smiled it meant more when he actually did smile or laugh, but that was not the case at all. After six months that smile, or even his laughter, had become something Eren was very familiar with, and though he saw it more and more it felt like it never ceased to send an army of armed butterflies through his stomach, pulling every string connected to his heart. It really didn’t matter how often, it just depended on the person smiling.

When Eren had turned into such a sappy person was an entirely different, equally important topic of discussion, but not one he was very keen on dwelling on just yet.

 

Work continued as normal. Few things had changed since Nile Dok stepped down, except for the name of the company of course. The name of the firm had officially changed to Pixis&Smith. Hanji had transferred to Dok’s old building to handle business there and she was deeply missed by everyone. Sometimes the place felt too quiet without her to cheer everyone up. Even Levi missed her, though he refused to admit it, Eren could tell.

They saved a lot on keyboards at least, so there was a silver lining.

The IT department had hired a few more full-time employees, making everyone’s workload a little bit easier to deal with. Annie had gone off the grid, quit her job one day and disappeared like she had never been there in the first place, leaving no address or contact information behind. Eren suspected either Reiner or Bert knew where she was, but they wouldn’t say anything.

Marco and Jean were engaged to be married in a couple of months. They hadn’t been together for very long, but Jean explained it as he had found his soulmate and carried no doubt it was the right decision. Eren never got to voice his concerns as they were all forgotten and buried when Jean asked him to be his Best Man.

The bar Connie worked at had closed down for good, so Eren and his friends had to find a new place to hang out on weekends. Ymir finally got the attention of the girl she had been crushing on for months, and she introduced Krista to the group not long after they found a new bar fitting their criteria.

 

Eren entered Levi’s now familiar apartment, shaking off his jacket, while jumping up and down trying to get his blood flowing again. He spent almost as many nights at Levi’s place as he did in his own bed these days. A drawer for his clothes, a toothbrush, the place was starting to feel like home, even having his own key and Levi’s word that he could come and go as he liked and he could navigate around just as well as the owner of the apartment. It was much nicer than his place and roomier.

In the kitchen Eren found everything he could possibly need to make a good dinner. He put the grocery bags on the counter and started preparing to make a noddle soup Mikasa had recommended he try. Cooking is always easier with music, so he turned on the radio and began with packing out the groceries. Levi should be home in an hour and he wanted the food to be done by then.

An hour later it was almost done, delayed because the radio had been playing a lot of Taylor Swift and if you expect Eren not to dance like a dork while listening to upbeat music, then you are expecting too much, or not enough.

Mikasa and Armin had stayed pretty much the same over the last 6 months. Armin got an internship working as the assistant for an up and coming politician in the city, so he was extremely busy trying to balance that and school at the same time, while Mikasa continued with her studies and worked part-time as a personal trainer. They still lived together, the three of them. Armin still refused to wear pants unless he absolutely had to and Mikasa kept pestering Eren to eat healthy and call his mother once a week. It was different, but the same at the same time.

“What are you making?” A deep voice whispered in Eren’s ear, making him jump around, almost knocking his boyfriend over in the process.

“Fuck Levi. Give a guy a warning.” Eren breathed out, his heart beating faster than the beat of the song playing on the radio. A new song, one Eren hadn’t heard before, but from what he could tell it was a female singer singing about her jerk ex-boyfriend.  Levi stepped back and laughed. His professional aura was gone. He always looked more relaxed at home than he ever did at the office.

“So…?”

“Oh, uhm, it’s a noddle soup thing. Mikasa sent me the recipe.”

“It smells good.” He wrapped his arms around Eren’s waist and kissed his neck, warming his cold skin with Eren’s warmth. “I’m so hungry.”

“Mm, me too.” Eren smiled.

“What were you thinking about?” Levi asked.

“Huh?”

“Before I scared you. You looked so lost in thought.” He kissed Eren’s jaw this time, leaving Eren feeling warm and cold at the same time. He leaned down a little, forgetting about the question for a second, only knowing he wanted Levi to continue the way he had.

“Nothing.” Eren said, but Levi didn’t let things go so easy. One look telling him to elaborate and Eren caved. “Just how much things have changed.”

“Is that a good or a bad thing?” Levi looked puzzled.

“Neither, I guess. They just change, that’s all.” Eren smiled, content with his answer, and Levi had no further questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I ever mention I’m terrible at writing endings? That’s probably why it took so long for me to write this… heh

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading :3  
> i have a tumblr. whaaaaleee.tumblr.com (tho i don't really know how to use it well)


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